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I Centennial Celebration, 

4th of JULY, 1876. 

-AT— 

Shelbyville, Bedford County, Tenn. 

KM BRACING OPENING ADDRESS OF 

Hon. THOS. H. COLDWELL, 

president of the day. 

ADDRESS OF 

Hon. EDMUND COOPER. 

/» co)incdion wiih /lis Reading the L'eclarn/ion of Independence. 



ORIGINAL POEM BY 



Hon. G. N. TILLMAN 



CONCLUDING WITH 

HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

-OF- 

Hon. H. L. DAVIDSON 

Under yoint Resolution of Congress, passed MarcJi tS, 1876. 

Resolution for Publication of Proceedings, 




Chattanooga: 

GRAND ALL, Printer; TIMES JOB OFFICE. 




Centennial Celebration, 

4th of JULY, 1876, 

-AT— 

Shelbyville, Bedford County, Tenn. 



EMBRACING OPENING ADDRESS OF 

Hon. THOS. H. COLDWELL, 

PRESIDENT OF THE DAY. 

ADDRESS OF 

Hon. EDMUND COOPER 

/// romtt-rtion -rvilh his Readini^ the Declnration of Independence. 



ORIGINAL POEM BY 



Hon. G. N. TILLMAN. 

CONGLUDING WITH 

» HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

-< IF— 

Hon. H. L. DAVIDSON, 

[ ii(/rr Joiut Resolitlio)i of Co/iL^rrss. passed March I S, 1 876. 

Resolution for Publication of Proceedings, 



Chattanooga: 

W. I. CR.VNDALL. Printer; TIMES fOK OFFICE. 



.SsS5 



PUBLIC ATI OX. 



Hon. B. M. TILLMAN o|-Tcrcd the foUowin- resolution, which 
Avas unanimously adopted: 

Resolved, That it is the sense and wish of tliis assembly that the 
proceedings of to-day, embracing the Historical Address, the Poem, 
and the other brief speeches, should be offered to the general public, 
printed in pamphlet form, and to this end the Chairman is requested 
to appoint a Committee of five to solicit contributions for that pur- 
p<ise. 

Com m it te k A ppoi ntk i > : 



Maj. a. l. landls. h. s, C()bPi:R, 

CAFr. j. A. WARDER, Capt. H. I'. STKKL1-: 

T. I. ROANE. I 



OF 

Hon. T h c) s . H . C o l d w e l i 



ON TAKlNti llil-: LllAlK 



'ro-i)A\ is thr Nation's Centennial Anni\ crsai)-, and impelled b\' 
a patriotic desire to celebrate it, coupled with a request from the Con- 
jrress of the United States to the peo})le of this nation, we have as- 
sembled ourselves to observe the day with appropriate ceremonies, 
and to listen to an address descripti\ e of the local histor\- and re- 
sources of our country. 

One hundred years ago to-da\-, our fathers signed the declaration 
which announced to the world that we were a free people, and i?.v such 
would take our place, amongst the nations of the earth. Then con- 
tinued the strife of battle (already begun) to estabUsh our right to 
freedom, and after many years of .sacrifices, and painful vicissitudes, 
victfliy came, and our nationality was fully recognized by all nations. 

The centur\' which has just passed into history, has witnessed a 
progress in the growth of this nation — in material wealth and in those 
<irts and appliances which indicate a real ad\ance towards a higher ci\'- 
ilization that has no pamllfl in the historj' of any people. Our sev- 
enty-five thousand miles of completed railways, the fe.xtension of our 
telegraph lines, and the almost daily inventions in the mechanic arts, 
which give to man a respite, if not an absolute release from muscular 
exertion — its teeming population, its free schools, its peaceful and 
beautiful homes, are but /rt^r/ of the evidences of our mighty progress. 

At this moment, in the city of Philadelphia, there are hundreds 
of thousands of people from many lands, witnessing with pleasure 
and amazement the progress we have made. There on the grounds 
of the great Exposition thousands of our oiun citizens, are now in- 
specting the myriads of evidences, we have exposed to the world, for 
its criticism, and they will go to their homes all over this broad land, 
exultant over these evidences of thrift and progress their country has 
made during its short life as a nation. 

We are to-da}'. a free people prosperous beyond any otlier nation, 
and surrounded by every element that should make us contented and 
happy. At the clo.se of our first Centennial no marshaled hosts in- 
\'ade our borders, no internecine strife lays waste our fields now gold- 
en with a glorious harvest, nor sheds the blood of those bound to each 
other by the ties of kindred or nationality. But peace reigns tlirougli- 
out this land, and a new brotherhood vntsi and ivill prevail. Blcs.sed 
of God, as we humblv tru.st, this nation has increased from three to 



4 

forty-five millions of people. Its dominion reaches from sea to sea, 
containing the broadest and most fertile savannahs, and fields of min- 
erals unsurpassed in the value of their ores, and in the variety of their 
productions. Here Art finds most liberal patrons ; here Science is the 
foster-child of the State and an enlightened public; here skill and 
energy, in every department of life, secure most certainly their merited 
reward. In this free republic formed as it was by the people, and for 
the people, all may attempt to climb the steeps "where fame's proud 
temple shines afar." 

In this young republic is being developed a system of free public 
instruction which is not surpassed, if equalled, by the most enlightened 
of the governments beyond the sea. But better than this ''Titan thcst\ 
than air,' here we have an open Bible, which is free to all, and the 
people of this land have been taught to revere its commands, and to 
draw lessons of wisdom from its- pure and holy teachings. While 
THIS is the habit and spirit of the people, all will be well with us as a 
Nation. 

This government furnishes a home for the oppressed, and is the 
beacon light to all who desire to found a free form of government. 
We, who are the constant recipients of its blessings and benefits, are 
charged with its perpetuity, and I am sure that all will join in the 
wish that it may continue, in all its magnificence and beneficence, 
growing stronger and stronger, until 

"Wrapj)ed in llamcs. ihc i-onlni^ uf ether k''-'''^ • 
Ann Heaven^ last lliun.ler shakes the \\<n-hl beluw.- 



(IF 

Hon. Edmund Cooper. 



This " Declaration of Independence " by the Representatives of 
the Thirteen Colonies in Congress, assembled, was the birth of the 
United States of America, and for one hundred years, it has existed, 
although threatened by foreign foes and torn by internecine strife. 

During this period, thrones, kingdoms, and empires have been 
swept away. History chronicles their fate, and informs us that indi- 
\idual ambition and national corruption destroyed them. 

And our own observation teaches us that our own government is 
on trial, and whilst the air is fragrant with Centennial rejoicings 
to-day who knows whether our posterity will be jubilant and exultant 
one hundred years hence? The answer to this question will greatly 
depend upon us. If we can keep the body politic healthful ; if we can 
achieve reforms that are absolutely necessary for its successful admin- 
istration ; if we, being patriots ourselves, can transmit the sterling 
virtues of the true patriot to our immediate descendants, we may hope 
that they also will hand over to generations following this same repub- 
lic, founded as it is, and should be always, on intelligence and virtue. 

Therefore I present before you this day "The United States of 
America" as a nation, worthy of your patriotic support and genuine 
and true love ! Love is the inspiration of great endeavors ! And 
when I speak of love I amrsure of an attentive audience, because it is 
the one theme that touches us all in our heart of hearts ! We carry 
it with us all our lives, and finally will take it with us to Heaven; for, 
if we lea\e it behind us, it would not be Heaven that we go to. 
Hence, I say to you, love your country, because it is your country ; it 
jleserves your love ; it is worthy of it ; it affords us protection now, and 
throws over us the shield of its guardianship, guided and sustained 
by the immortal principles, which I have just read in your hearing. 

Recall for one moment the courage and the trials of our "Stal- 
wart Christian Ancestry" who established self-government instead of 
despotism ; gave to the people of America, liberty only restrained by 
laws which protect; free schools; free churches, with freedom of 
thought and freedom of opinion ; who made for themselves a great 
history, by the sa':rifice of "their lives and their fortunes," in a mighty 
and successful conflict for human freedom and the right! All these 
inspiring thoughts, create within us affection for them, and patriotic 
devotion for our country. And therefore I repeat the sentiment, love 
your country, and you will live for it; aye! and if necessary will die 
for it. 

This nation is ours: ours to honor ; ours to protect; ours to 



sei\ c ; ours to sustain, and to endeavor to make still greater than it is I 

And as I to-day look down the rolling years of the future, I see 
"millions of people, multitudinous as the leaves of the forest," rising 
up on succeeding centennial anniversaries and blessing us, as Ave bless 
our fathers, for passing on to them, as an inheritance, this govern- 
ment, purer and better, stronger and wiser than it came to us, and 
thanking God that we open the door to the second centur)- with an 
improved government, by emancipating it from unworthy rulers, and 
b\ making it the purified temple of human advancement. 

It is true, that on this Centennial day, the wheels of commeicc 
move more slowly than they did some years ago ; it is true that many 
of our manufactories are idle, or running on half time ; it 'is true that 
the rewards of the farmer in dollars and cents are less abundant ; yet 
notwithstanding all of these apparent, and in some instances, real 
causes of complaint, we have "peaceful homes and pleasant firesides," 
with plenty and to spare in our warehouses and in our granaries I 

As citizens of a government, whose resources are boundless, and 
whose industries and commerce have already in this, the first centur\- 
of its national existence developed colossal proportions, we are learn- 
ing, as the citizens of other nations have learned before us, through 
the costly, but warning lesson, of our own experience, that war creates 
an entail of debt, taxation, and disordered industries, which cannot be 
all liquidated and repaid in one generation, however prosperous it 
may be ; that national waste and national extravagance, must be set- 
tled by national frugality and national economy ; that a nation's fi- 
nances must be made to rest on the solid basis of permanent values, 
and that the prosperity of a people, like that of the individual citizen, 
turns upon the rigid economy, which limits expenses to incomes, and 
forces a strict observance of this golden rule. 

Yet. notwithstanding these causes of despondency on the part of 
many, I can on this Centennial day, truthfully declare to you, after 
the fearful consequences of the late terrible and disastrous civil war ; 
now, when the "sword is turned into the plow share and the spear 
into the pruning hook," in the quaint but expressive language of Tim- 
othy Dwight, the poet of the Revolution, published near one hun- 
dred years ago : 

"As down the lone valley with cedars o'er spread. 
From war's dread confusion I pensively strayed ; 
The gloom from the face of fair Heaven behind ; 
The winds hushed their murmur, the thunders e.\pire<l. 
Perfumes as of Eden, flowed sweetly along, 
A voice as of Angels, enchantingly sung : — 
Columbia ! Columbia ! to glory arise ! 
The queen of the world, the child of the skies ; '" 



7 

THE CLOSING CENTURA 

By Hon. (1. N. Tii.i.man. 

I. 

As from a crowded city pent 
Into primeval Nature went 
Man out — out into noliler light 
Of (iod— of truths and laws of rij^h;. 

II. 

Here no castles, ivy crowned, 
(.Guarded the native forests round ; 
Here no legendary tales 
Ancient made the lovely vales; 
Here no mouldering feudal fane 
Reminded of dark ignorance's reign, 
"fwas fresh and vigorous as the morn, 
As when from God's great bosom born. 
Here memory had no wrongs to tell, 
And hope inspired with magic spell. 

III. 

Columbia's priests, our prophets oUl 
With earthquakes, sky, and storm, and wold, 
Communed, and trembling drew the fire, 
That did their burning lips inspire. 
Burst from their mighty souls the voice 
«^f universal law — the voice 
That with the swell of thunder-tones 
liath shaken th' earth from zone to zones; 
"All men are equal born and free. 
Their natural state is liberty ; 
No pampered few have right to rule, 
And make their fellowmen their tool. 
O, Thee, Thou God of love we trust — 
Thou'lt never leave the cause that's jusi- - 
And here our lives and honor plight 
For Independence and for right." 
IV. 

Time's ceaseless tread to-day hath marked 
An hundred years since we embarked. 
Like emigrant vessel on the sea, 
With faith, and hope, and charity. 
Where are we now ? What work is done -■' 
What sum of good to man is won ? 
The century's struggles past review. 
And price its blessings to the new. 
V. 

Self-government preserved thus far. 
By sacrifice, and pain, and war ! 
'Tis worth the cost — worth toil and blood — 
The primal source of human good. 
Preserved! but grieves the patriot's heart. 
When rulers only know the art 
Of demagogues ; and sell and buy 
That which was once esteemed so higii. 
VI. 

God grant us men ! like those of old. 
Of noble, grand, heroic mold; 
Who, not concentered all in self. 
Stooped not to fraud and paltry pelf ! 
Whose sacred honor was a tower 
Of sure defense, in every hour 
Of peril — and who had the nerve 



Ne'er from virtue's path to swerve, 
God grant us men — but most of al! 
The people to their duty call. 
While conscience is but jiarty's slave 
The statesman's place is for the knave. 

Vil 

What are tby triumphs. Science, Art? 
In the closing cycle what thy part? 
Who chained the force of steam to use. 
And made it time and space reduce? 
Who from the clouds the lightning caughj. 
And who this magic element taught 
To speed with errand swift, and span 
With thought the ocean and the land ? 
Who by mechanisms rare 
Hath lighted mankind's weary care? 
Thine, America, thine the fame ; 
From thee the world these blessings clain>. 
Thine too the work has been to feed 
The hungry — thine the poor in need 
To clothe — with the riches of thy soil. 
By the genius of thy brain and toil '. 

VIII. 
But, O, my country's woes to tell, 
When o'er its jjeace dread vengeance fell ? 
Hope fled awhile — -o'er all the land 
Stalked civil war with bloody hand '. 
But lurn.O Memory, turn away^ — 
This day of birth om- hearts would stay 
On brighter things; sleep no\^• the brave — 
Who would destroy — who fought to sa\ e — 
Each with soltlier's honor stood 
Their honest faith sealed with their blood. 
Right or wrimg, it suits not here to solve; 
Convictions, feelings, thoughts, revolve 
'Round different centre.'- ; and the place 
Of birth, tfie climate, and the race. 
The education — all combined — 
Mould the conscience and the mind. 

IX. 
To-day from every harlior, every fcjit. 
The cannons' deafening deep report 
Doth tell how freedom's boon was won 
At Bunker Hill and old Yorktown. 
May they be heard in war no more — 
(luard undisturbed our ocean shore^ — 
And, each returning cycle, sound 
To all the listening nations round. 
Peace, on the sea, abroad, at home. 
Peace present, and all lime to come ; 
The people prosperous, united, free; 
f iood government joined with liberty ; 
The Union by love's cords made sure : 
Public and private morals pure ; 
Free thought, with humble trust in Cod — 
Following the steps the fathers trod. 
This service only may they know, 
And rusty, old, and curit)us grow — 
Relics of a departed age 
When man on man did, barbarous, wage 
Destructive war. O, white-winged Peace. 
May thy sweet presence never cease I 



9 

HISTORICAL ADDRESS 

OF 

Judge H. L. Davidson 

DELIVERED IN SHELHYVILLE ON THE 4TH OF JULY, I 8/6. 



Ladies and Gentlemen : — At a meeting of a portion of the citi- 
zens of Bedford county, recently held, I was, very unexpectedly to 
myself, selected to deliver a historical sketch of Bedford county, in ac- 
cordance with a joint resolution of the Congress of the United States 
passed in the month of March last, and thus to appropriately cele- 
brate the first Centennial of American Independence. 

If there are those present who expect a spread eagle oration, they 
will be disappointed, as such is not my forte, nor would it fulfill the 
objects and purpose sought to be accomplished, by the resolution of 
Congress. 

The joint resolution of the tlouse of Representatives, concurred 
in by the Senate, "recommends on behalf of the Senate and House 
of Representatives that the people of the several States assemble in 
their several counties or towns, on the approaching Centennial Anni 
versary of our National Independence, and that they cause to have 
delivered on said day a historical sketch of such county or town from 
its formation, and that a copy of the sketch may be filed in print or 
manuscript in the Clerk's office of the county and an additional cojn 
in print or manuscript in the office of the Librarian of Congress, to 
the intent that a complete record may thus be obtained of the progress 
of our institutions during the first centennial of their existence," 

It is no easy task to meet all of the ends sought to be accom- 
plished by this joint resolution, but with all of the aids within my 
reach. I proceed to discharge the duty of the undertaking as best I 
can. The history of the county of Bedford for the first decade, at 
least after its organization, rests somewhat upon tradition — there being 
but a remnant of the citizens cotemporaneous ^vith these events now 
living. It is also not a matter of easy and ready discrimination to 
select what should, and reject what should not, go into a historical 
sketch of the county according to the true intent and spirit of said 
resolution. Such sketches of counties being designed to furnish data 
as to their progress from the date of organization, illustrating, in the 
language of the resolution, the progress of our institutions during the 
past centennial of their existence, and also as data for historical inves- 
tigators in future times, it seems appropriate to bring down the sketch 
to the end of the first century of our national existence. I hope in 
doing this to avoid unnecessary minuteness and prolixity. In Novem- 
ber, 1777. the county of Washington was laid off by the State of North 



10 

Carolina from her Western Territory with the follovvint^" boundaries : 
"Beginning at the north-westvvardly point of the county of Wilkes, 
in the Virginia line ; thence, with the line of Wilkes county, to a point 
twenty-six miles south of the Virginia line ; thence due west to the 
ridge of the great iron mountain, which, heretofore, divided the hunt- 
ing grounds of the Overhill Cherokecs, from those of the middle set- 
tlements and valleys ; thence, running a southwardly course along the 
said ridge to the Unica Mountain, where the trading path crosses the 
same, from the valley to the Overhills ; thence south with the line of 
the State adjoining the State of South Carolina ; thence due west to 
the great Mississippi river; thence up the same river to a point due 
west from the beginning." (Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee.) This 
magnificent domain comprises the present State of Tennessee. 

As not germain to the subject, I pass over the struggle between 
those resident within the county of Washington to erect the State of 
Franklin or Flankland out of its boundaries. In 1789 the State of 
North Carolina, by what is known as the Cession Act of that date, 
ceded the territory now constituting the State of Tennessee to the 
United States, and in June, 1796, the territory embraced in the county 
of Washington was by act of Congress erected into the present State 
of Tennessee. Before the session referred to there had been 
other counties carved out of the original Washington, and likewise 
after the organization of Tennessee, still other counties ; amongst 
others in 1803, the Legislature authorized the laying out and estab- 
lishment of Rutherford county, whose boundary on the south, when 
established, extended to the southern boundary of the State. Coming 
now to Bedford county, I find the Legislature of the State, on the 3d 
of December, 1807, passed the following act : 

"Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, 
That a new county be, and the same is, hereby established south and 
southwest of and adjoining the county of Rutherford, by the name of 
Bedford, in memory of Thoma.s Bedford, deceased ; which said county 
shall begin at the southwest corner of Rutherford, and southeast cor- 
ner of Williamson county on the Duck river ridge, and run thence 
with said Williamson county line to the line of the county of Maury; 
thence along the same southwardly to the south boundary of the State ; 
thence eastwardly to the east boundary of Rutherford county; thence 
along the same to the ridge that divides the waters of Duck river from 
those of Cumberland ; thence along the same westwardly, to the east 
corner of Williamson county, leaving Rutherford county its constitu- 
tional limits ; and all that tract of country included in the above de- 
scribed lines shall be included within the said county of Bedford." 
* * * * (Scott's Revisal, Laws of Tennessee, page 103 1.) 

Thus we have the original limits of Bedford. By the second sec- 
tion of the same act, it is provided that, until the next General As- 
sembly, the courts shall be held at the house of Mrs. Payne, near the 
head of Mulberry. 

The Legislature on the 14th of November, 1809, passed the fol- 
lowing act, reducing the limits of Bedford county : 



I r 

"/)(• // tiuictcd by tJif Goiiral Assembly of tlie State of Tennessee, 
That the lines and boundaries of Bedford county shall be as follows, 
to-wit : Beginning on the northeast corner of Maury county and run- 
ning south with the eastern boundary line thereof to the extreme 
heighth of the ridge, dividing the waters of Duck river from the waters 
of Elk river ; thence eastvvardly on the extreme height of said ridge, 
to the present eastern boundary line of the said county of Bedford ; 
thence north to the south boundar}' line of Rutherford county ; thence 
westwardly with the said line to the southern boundary line of Wil- 
liamson county, and thence with the said line of Williamson to the 
beginning." (Scott's Revisal.) 

The legislature at the same session, created the county of Lincoln, 
which includes all of the original Bedford between the ridge dividing 
the waters of Duck and P^lk rivers, extending to the Alabama line. 

By the second section of the same act, John Atkinson, Williami 
Woods, Bartlett Martin, Howell Dawdy and Daniel McKissack were 
appointed commissioners to fix the county site of Bedford on Duck 
river, and within two miles of the centre of the county. At the same 
session of the Legislature, November 23, 1809, Benjamin Bradford 
and John Lane were appointed additional Commissioners to act with 
those first named. 

The county of Bedford as reduced by the first section of the act 
copied, was still one of the largest in territory in the State. After its 
formation population flowed in apace, the chief current being from the 
old mother State, North Carolina, with a small per centage from Vir- 
ginia, South Carolina and Georgia. The number of population when 
the county was originally formed with its southern boundary the State 
line in December, 1 807, as well as when its dimensions were reduced 
in 1809, cannot now be known, as the census of 18 10 is the first in 
which Bedford county was included ; but doubtless between 1807 and 
1810 it rapidly increased. The census of 1810 shows its then popu- 
ulation to be 8,242. The census of 1830, 30,396, an increase in twen- 
ty years of 22,154. At that date, 1830, it was the mo.st populous 
county in the State, Davidson county the next in population, having 
only 28,122, difference in favor of Bedford 2,274. Table 11, census 
1870. 

The county as surveyed in 1 809 after its reduction, by Malcom 
Crilchrist, according to information, was 36 miles and some poles from 
east to west, with a mean width from north to south of not less than 
23 or 24 miles. A magnificent territory ! 

By the Constitution of 1834 of the State, regulating the forma- 
tion of new counties, it is provided that an old county in the forma- 
tion of a new one, shall not be reduced below 625 square miles ; "Pro- 
dded, however, that the county of Bedford may be reduced to 
four hundred and seventy-five square miles ; and there shall not be laid 
off more than one new county on the west and one oh the east, adjoin- 
ing the county of Bedford, and no new county line shall run nearer 
than eleven and a half miles of the scat of justice of said county." 
And thus was Bedford ct)unty reduced by the formation in 1836 of 
Coffee county on the cast, and 1837, Mai'shall on the west, whereby at 



12 

least one-third of her then territory was lost to her. Yet, after this 
heavy pruning, she had, by the census of 1870, a population of 24,333, 
only 6,063 less than in 1830, 

From the best information in reach, (and no doubt correct,) found- 
ed on the recollection of the venerable Mrs. Rachael Tillman, eighty- 
seven years old, mother of Col. Lewis Tillman, Thomas Bedford, in 
memory of whom, as we have seen, the county was named, was a 
native of Charlotte county, Virginia, that he came to Rutherford coun- 
ty from Kentucky, previous to 1803, and died in that county near old 
Jefferson previous to December, 1807. when the act of the Legislature 
authorizing the formation of Bedford county was passed. He was 
known as Col. Bedford — was cotemporaneous with the American Rev- 
olution, and doubtless derived his title from services in the war of the 
Revolution. There were four brothers of them — the other three being 
connected by marriage with the Mosely family, with which Mrs. Till- 
man is also connected by marriage — hence her sources of information. 

SHELBYVILLE. 

We have seen that in the same act of the Legislature reducing the 
limits of Bedford, passed in November, 1809. that by the commission- 
ers, and additional commissioners by a subsequent act, the county 
seat of Bedford was to be located by them on Duck riv-er, and within 
two miles of the center of the county. In the latter part of that year 
as informed by Col. John L. Neil, who assisted Malcolm Gilchrist to 
survey the county, Vv'hen the distance from east to west was ascertained 
to be more than 36 miles, and thus showifig the locus in quo of Shelby- 
ville was within the requirements of the law. Two places were in 
competition. The one known then as Amos Balch's land, being the 
same 2^ miles West on the Lewisburgpike, where the late Col. Wm. 
Little resided at his death. Balch and Wm. Galbreath, the father of 
our venerable friend, Wm. Galbreath, Esq., who owned the now 
Thompson land, adjoining the Balch tract, each offered to donate for 
the county seat fifty acres of adjoining lands. 

About the same time Clement Cannon, then a citizen of William- 
son county, but for a half century or more a worthy and valuable citi- 
/.en here, went to the State of North Carolina, county of Cabarrus, 
and purchased from Robert W. Smith, the grantee of the State on the 
23d da)' of March, 18 10, a large track of land, at the price of $1,000. 
packing in his saddle-bags the silver with which he paid the price. 
The tract thus purchased covers the town of Shelbyville and much 
more. Of this tract on the 2d of May, 1810, he donated one hundred 
acres to said Commissioners for the county seat, and upon which the 
town of Shelbyville was located. The deed of Cannon to the Com- 
missioners is witnessed by James McKissick, Thos. Moore and Amos 
Balch. was proven "by the oaths of James McKissick and Thomas 
Moore. 28th of March, 181 1, and regi.stered 22<\ of June, 181 1. The 
Thomas Moore mentioned was the first clerk of the county court, and 
it was before him the deed was proven on the oaths of himself and 
McKissick, thus presenting the singular fact of Thos. Moore, the clerk, 



swearing himself as Thos. Moore, the ivitncss, all of which I take it. 
was lawful. 

The county seat was named "Shelbyville," for Col. I.saac Shelby, 
who commanded a regiment of two hundred and forty men raised in 
the then Sullivan county. North Carolina, now Sullivan county, Ten- 
nessee, in the storming of King's Mountain, and capture of Colonel 
Furguson and the British army under him on the 7th of October, 1780, 
the most brilliant achievement of the Revolutionary war, and the 
pivotal point of the long and arduous struggle. Colonel Shelby, after 
the independence of his country was assured, removed to Kentucky, 
and was elected Governor of that Commonwealth. 

After Shelbyville was thus laid off, the Commissioners sold lots to 
various persons, and amongst others, several lots to Clement Cannon, 
the donor. 

The town of Shelbyville was not incorporated until the 7th of Oc- 
tober, 1819, by act of the Legislature. At an election for aldermen, 
held on the first Monday in November. 18 19, Thomas Davis, David 
McKissick, James A. McClure, Giles Burdett, William O. Whitney, 
John H. Anderson and Jacob Morton, were elected aldermen, and the 
body thereupon ele':ted Thomas Davis, Mayor, and James Brittain, 
Recorder. It would not be fitting to this occasion to trace, if it could 
be done, the government of the town ever since ; suffice it to say, that 
citizen, Brom. R. Whitthornt!*, having attained to proper Aldermanic 
proportions, is now its dignified and popular Mayor, and citizen, B. P. 
Steele, its obliging and capable Recorder. 

The population of Shelbyville, including the suburbs, will not fall 
far short of 3.000 souls, from information. 

TOPOGRAPHY, &c., OF THE COUNTY. 

The surface of the county, especially on the east and south-east, 
is undulating, being intersper.-ed with hills and vallies — the other por- 
tion of its territory more level, with a very general limestone formation, 
cropping out too frequently above the surface in places, and in the 
sections first named, springs of excellent water are quite numerous, but 
not so frequent in the more level portions. The growth, poplar, beech, 
oak, ash, hickory, walnut, elm, cedar in the north and west, with 
several other varieties. 

Duck river is the mainstream running near centrally through the 
county from east to west, with its tributaries from the south, Norman's 
Shipman's, Thompson's, Little Flat, Big Flat, Sugar, Powell's and 
Sinking Creeks; on the north, Noah's Fork, Garrison Fork, Wartrace 
Fork, Butler's Creek, Fall Creek, North Fork and Clem's Creek. 

From an early day there were, and are now, grist mills on Duck 
river, at what is known as Three Forks, seven miles east of Shelby- 
ville. Sims, Horseley's, Cannon's, Wilhoites and Crowells ; and more 
recently Troxler's, Clary & P^rierson's and Mullin's ; and on the Gar- 
rison, Davis' and Mullin's old mill, with others of less note on some ot 
the creeks, which may be styled wet weather mills. 

When we consider that the county when formed in 1807, was a 
dense cane brake, almost entirely uninhabited, we can readily 



comprehend the dangers trials, hardships and privations of the pio- 
neer settlers. Roads through the cane had to be opened, and when a 
settlement was made, space cleared sufificiently large to build the hum- 
ble cabin, and to protect it from the surrounding timber in case of 
storms. These early settlers were often several miles apart. Within 
a year previous to his death, the late Thomas Holland related that, 
when a mere boy he came with his father and family, and when clear- 
ing up a little plat of ground and putting up a small cabin on the tract 
of land now owned by Hon. W. H. Wisener, two miles east of town, 
the sound of an axe was heard in a westward direction, and on ap- 
proaching to find if they had a new neighbor, a new comer was found 
building a cabin about where the Evan's Hotel is located. 

When a youth at school, boarding at the house of Captain Mat, 
Martin, the only immediate members of his family being the venerable 
pair who had lived with each other, as husband and wife, a half cen- 
tury, each occupying the appropriate corner by a window, indulging in 
smoking the pipe — a luxury common to both — I remember vividly, 
how the old gentleman of winter evenings, when I had time 
from my .studies, would entertain me with the life and trials of a Rev- 
olutionary soldier — he having fought under General Green until the 
surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown ; how, after the war was over, he 
married for love ; how he cut away the cane on the very large and val- 
uable estate, now the property of Hon. Edmund Cooper, and built a 
log cabin, a stick chimney daubed with clay, how he improvised a 
door, a bed-stead, a table and two chairs, but having no plank or 
puncheons to lay a floor, they had, for a time, only a dirt floor ; then 
the old lady, a patient listener to these interesting reminisences, spoke 
up, "Yes, and if it was a dirt floor I kept itclean." A moral for house- 
keepers. 

These examples were doubtless the general experience of the 
early pioneers. They suffered many privations, and yet they did not 
have all of the wants and desires that accompany a more refined state of 
civilization. The boys and girls lent a willing and helping hand to 
father and mother, in the sphere of their appropriate duties. Food 
and raiment were two of the chief wants. The father and sons pro- 
viding for the household, the former, the mother and sisters the latter. 
Plain brown jeans for the former, and cotton and linsey-woolse\' dresses 
for the latter, with something a little more attractive for Sunday-go-to- 
meeting adornments. If the beaux and belles of that day could have 
cast the social, or, more properly, the fashionable horoscope, fifty or 
sixty years forward, and could have seen the young man of to-day, 
with a barber cultivated moustache and imperial, with oroide jewelry 
and paste diamonds, and the "girl of the period" with a love of a lit- 
tle hat nestled beneath flowers and like fancies, with the incom- 
parable pin-back, so essential to free locomotion, would they not have 
been miserable ? 

Log rollings and house-raisings are a necessit}- in a new and 
heavily timbered country. In fact the labor rtniLiired lo clear and pre- 
pare the land for cultivation, was ver\- great. The nrighbors, though 
they might be miles apart, found it necessar\- to hel]) each other roll 



15 

up the logs into heaps for burning, and to raise their houses and barns. 
On such occasions, it was not uncommon to have a quilting also, with 
the neighbor women invited in. The hospitable board was spread 
with plain and substantial food for all in such abundance, that none 
went away hungry. As they progressed in opening up the land, small 
grain crops began to increase also, and there would be reapings, first 
with the old-fashioned sickle, next with the scythe and cradle — the 
latter continued to some extent until now — but to a great degree su- 
perseded by what are termed labor saving machines, a great exhaustive 
of the pockets of our farmers sent abroad to build up the fortunes of 
other communities- And so of farm wagons. But it is to be hoped 
that these useful aids to agricultural industr)' will soon be manufac- 
tured in our own midst — a movement to that end now being set on 
foot. 

But to return to the subject of the habits of the early settlers, no 
record of them would be correct that did not speak in terms of high 
praise of their uniform hospitality — neighbor with neighbor — and es- 
pecially to the stranger, who, after his warm and generous treatment, 
might well say, in the language of Scripture : "I was a stranger and 
ye took me in." 

As in the middle walks of society may be found the most virtue, 
honesty and integrity, so is there practiced the highest type of a heart- 
felt and unostentatious hospitality. 

In the early days we had militia laws, and Spring and Fall 
musters. Great was the sight to the youthful imagination to see the 
militia colonel all buttoned up, epauletted, with his half-moon hat 
jauntily set on one side of his Napoleonic head, and the captains with 
their red feathers as straight as an Indian arrow, all accompanied with 
" the soul stirring drum and air piercing fife, " as they set the rank 
and file, armed with old shot-guns and corn.stalks, as trained squad- 
rons, in the field. Thanks, this system has grown into desuetude. 
When the mustering would be over, frequently the fighting would 
begin, as our ancesters were somewhat addicted to that pastime. A 
sudden dispute springs up culminating in angry passions, coats and 
jackets fly, shirt collars opened, sleeves rolled up, a ring is formed, 
the belligerents "go in," and he who first cries " enough," is "let up" 
— it being dishonorable to strike after such a surrender. 

Sometimes, these preparations for combat being made, the bellig- 
erents would survey each other's brawny arms and muscular propor- 
tions, neither after such sur\'ey, " hoaning" much for the fight, one 
would .say to the other, '"'clear me of the law." but the other would not 
"clear him of the law" — hence no fight. 

If there could be any comparison between personal combats 
whether one mode is more Jwnorable and /azr than another, we should 
give it in favor of the old mode, "fist and skull," against the refined 
style of the present day, the pi.stol and the knife. 

ROADS. 

In all new countries the roads are simply execrable. Under the 
laws of the land, public roads of every class would be much neglected. 



i6 

Seldom would a road overseer do his dut)-. Hence, much incon- 
venience to the people. There were no wheeled vehicles, except road 
wagons and ox carts. Transportation was slow and difficult. Dry- 
goods and groceries were hauled in wagons from Baltimore, Mary- 
land. The live stock for market were hogs and horses. These were 
driven on foot to Southern markets. The first Mc7\damised turnpike- 
road built in the county was the Nashville, Murfreesboro and Shelby- 
ville pike — finished about 1833-4. Since then, we have not less than 
seven or eight other Mc Adamised roads entering the town, and others 
in contemplation. 

The Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad was built through the 
eastern portion, (one of the best portions of the country) with a 
branch eight miles long to Shelbyville, about 1852. So that now we 
have very good means of transportation, and so many vehicles of 
pleasure that it is no longer a mark of aristocracy, as it used to be 
charged, to own one. 

With these improved means of transportation, flourishing villages 
have sprung up, whilst some of the old ones near the railroad have 
decayed. Of the old country stores or villages, we may refer to Fair- 
field, known from a very early day as Davis' Mills, but being a very 
fair and lovely section, it was named Fairfield, in 1836, by Captain W 
B. M. Brame. 

Rowesville was so called for Dr. J. C. Rowe, resident there about 
1830, when it took its name. These two places have been much in- 
jured by the withdrawal of their trade to the railroad. 

Richmond — in the southwest ten miles, was so named in 1832. 
by one McLain, a merchant, and a native of Richmond, Virginia. 

Unionville — in the northwest ten miles, was, we presume, so named 
because of the regard of its people for the Union of the States. 

Flat Creek was early known as Newsom's Store, afterwards as 
Coldwell's Store, but since it has grown to larger proportions, called 
Flat Creek, for the creek on which it is situated. 

Bell-Buckle — the first railroad station after leaving Rutherford 
county, is on Bell-Buckle Creek, which, as tradition .says, was so 
named from the finding on the banks of this creek, b)' an early sur- 
veyor, a bell-buckle — once, no doubt, fastening a bell upon the neck 
of some one of the bovine species. 

Wartrace — the junction of the Shelbyville branch, is on Wartraci 
Creek — hence its name. This creek is so named because on the Indian 
wartrace from the waters of the Cumberland to Nick-a-Jack Cave on 
the Tennessee. 

Haley's Station, for Samuel R. Haley ; and Normandy, at the 
mouth of Norman's Creek, which probably suggested the name. 

CURRENCY. 

Intheearly times, perhaps for the finst decade in Bedford county's 
existence, the principal currency was silver, but little, if any, gold. A 
silver anecdote was recently related to me by our venerable friend and 
war veteran of 1812, Colonel John L. Neil, to this effect He assi.sted 
as has been stated in 1809, in surveying the county, and spent a night 



17 

at the house of James McCuistian, some three miles northwest of 
Shelbyville — the same place where the late Robert Jennings resided, 
and was charged fifty cents for the night's entertainment. Having 
nothing less than a silver dollar, it was placed on a stump and cut 
into two equal parts with an axe, his entertainer taking one-half, and 
iiimself the other, and thus was the bill paid. 

I well remember a cut money incident connected with myself 
When a little boy I made one of my first little trades and received as 
the price of the article sold, a cut quarter of a dollar, was quite elated, 
but was soon rendered very sorrowful when the older members of the 
family told me I had the fifth quarter in that dollar It was one of 
the tricks of the times to cut a silver dollar into five equal parts, and 
to pass each piece as a quarter or oric-foui'th of a dollar. This was 
not exactly counterfeiting the currency, as the coin was genuine, but 
modern financiers would call it " inflation. " . 

HEALTH. 

The county of Bedford is as healthful as any of the fertile Mid- 
dle Tennessee counties with limestone formations. There are few' 
local causes for sickness — many of such causes which exist in a prime- 
val forest having passed away in the clearing up of the country, and 
in thus removing miasmatic influences. As a faithful chronicler, I 
must state that within forty years we have had three visitations of 
Asiatic Cholera; the first in June and July, 1833, the second in Sep- 
tember. 1866, and the third in July, 1873. The malady was mostly 
confined to Shelbyville, but it spread to some extent in the country. 
There has, ho\vever. been as frequent visitations of cholera in other 
Middle Tennessee counties. Another calamity may be appropriately 
mentioned. On the last night of May, 1830, a violent tornado swept 
over the town of Shelbyville, prostrating many houses, killing 

outright five young men, James Newton, David Whitson, 

Arnold, Rideout and Caldwell, besides injuring a number 

of others. It was a night of the greatest terror and a scene of the 
saddest mourning. 

SCHOOLS. 

As a general thing there was, in the olden time, but few facilities 
for education. Subscription schools for a few of the summer and win- 
ter months, was the rule, when the children could best be spared fron) 
home duties. There was no such distinction in those days as male 
<md female schools, but the young of both sexes were received in the 
schools and put in the same classes, according to merit. These sub- 
scription schools were not very well sustained ; at all events, their 
pupils were not often advanced bejmnd spelling, reading, writing, and 
cyphering to the single rule of three, constituting a pretty good edu- 
cation for the times. After the adoption of the constitution of 1834, 
a public school system was inaugurated by the Legislature, but the 
funds were so limited, and the execution of the law so inefficient and 
defective that but little benefit was derived. It became a necessity 
with those parents who desired to give their children more than the 
simplest rudiments of an education, to resort to a higher grade of sub- 



i8 

^cription schools, or to patronize Academies, which had beq"an to 
flourish. However, at an early day, say as early as i8i6. Rev. George 
Mewton, a native of Buncombe county, North Carolina, came to Bed- 
ford county and established an Academy of high order, known as 
Bethsalem Academy, and at the same place known now as Bethsalem 
or Wartrace Presbyterian Church. He was a classical scholar him- 
self and taught with great success the English as well as the higher 
branches of a liberal education to many young men, among whom 
may be named Rev. Baxter H. Ragsdale, Barclay and Abram Martin, 
sons of Captain Matt Martin, their cousin, Abram Martin, familiarly 
known as Judge Abram Martin, of Montgomery, Alabama, Rev. 
Amzi Bradshaw, Dr. James G. Barksdale and others. His character 
as an educator of youth left a decided impression upon the communi- 
ty, which has never been effaced. Further mention will be made of 
him in another connection. 

Returning to our common schools. Under a general law of the 
Legislature passed March 6th, 1873, the present public school system 
was inaugurated. In this county, schools were organized by oiir effi- 
cient County Superintendent, John R. Dean, Esq., in July and August, 

1873- 

The fund to sustain the system is raised by a public tax. and its 
benefits are free for all classes and conditions, without distinction as 
to race or color, but very wisely the color line is so far recognized as to 
require schools for white and colored children to be separate. In 
1873 the County Court, for school purposes, in addition to the amount 
levied by the State, levied a tax of ten cents on the $100 worth of tax- 
able property, and f i.oo on polls. In 1875-6 the tax laid was fifteen 
cents on the $100, and $1.00 on polls. One hundred and one public 
schools and five consolidated were organized the first year, one hun- 
dred and four the last year, and three consolidated. Number of pu- 
pils enrolled the first year was 5,432 ; 3.143 9- 10 average daily attend- 
ance first year. The last scholastic year there were enrolled 6,062 
pupils. Average daily attendance, 3,485. Scholastic population of 
each year separately 7,138 the first, and 7,523 the second. The suc- 
cess of the system in this county is highly encouraging. In addition 
to these results, the High School here has uniformly enjoyed a large 
patronage. There is also a High School on the same plan liberally 
sustained at Unionville, and as a consequence of their success, these 
schools are liberally aided by the Peabody Fund. 

I am indebted to Superintendent Dean for these details. 

It is proper in speaking of schools to notice the Collegiate Insti- 
tute, Shelbyville, for the education of females The Institute has Rev. 
T. D. Wardlaw, D. D., for its Principal, an educator of high scholarly 
attainments, with a corps of excellent teachers, at the close of the 
academic year, June past, viz : Mrs. Jennie Nixon, Miss Laura H. 
Dayton, both of Shelbyville, and Mrs. Loving, of Richmond, Virginia. 
PRODUCTIONS, TRADE, ETC. 

In the early settlement of the county the crops were almost en- 
tirely such as were necessary for home consumption. Nothing in 



19 

kind was shipped any great distance to market, but as markets opened 
for horses and hogs they were driven on foot to the place of sale 
Hence, farming was chiefly confined to growing Indian corn, some 
wheat, oats and rye, and to the raising of hogs and horses. 

After a while cotton was grown to a considerable extent — also 
tobacco, say from 1825 on, but their production has gradually dimin- 
ished, until now there is but little of either grown in the county, ex- 
cept in the north and north-west. 

The soil of the county as a whole, being better adapted to grass 
and the cereals, these crops, with the standard — corn, now mostly en- 
gage the attention of the farmers, who have since the war studied the 
business ot their occupation more than before, and with the aid ol 
Agricultural Newspapers, Agricultural Societies and Fairs, which 
have been in operation from 1858 to the present time, less the years of 
the war, and the Grange inaugurated in 1873, great advances have 
been made in everything connected with their interests and prosperity. 
I may add that Agricultural F"airs and the Grange, whilst of much 
general benefit, are eminently socializing in their influences. The 
county is on the road to prosperity, and when its wasted fields are re- 
claimed by good husbandry, its large quota of virgin soil brought 
into cultivation, whereby our population and wea'th may be doubled, 
we may still retain our pro\id position as one of the first counties of 
the State. There is only one drawback. National, State, County, 
and Municipal taxation, but these are common to all of the counties, 
I am indebted to Mr. D. R. Evans, the obliging Secretary of the 
Board of Trade of Shelbyville, for the following tabular statement e^f 
the shipment of the five leading articles from railroad stations in Bed- 
ford county for the current year ending July ist, 1876, with remarks 
by him as quoted : 

QuAvi'iTY. Value. 

Number of bushels of Wheat 360,549 $414,631.35 

Numljer of bushels of Corn 296,755 i33'539-75 

Number of pounds of Bacon 2,545,370 381,805.50 

Number of car loads of Live-stock .... 400 500,000.00 

Number of barrels of F.ggs 3,462 41,542.00 

Total $1,471,518.60 

"The actual amount shipped will exceed the above, as it was found 
too difficult to enumerate the small shipments. In the article of wheat 
is included 22,000 barrels of flour. A large amount of the live stock 
is driven from our county on foot. At least one-third of our produc- 
tions are kept for home use." 

Add say 20 per cent, for live stock driven on foot #IC0,000.00 

And one-third production kept for home use 490,516.20 

Grand Total $2,072,034.80 

This is a splendid showing for the county of Bedford for one 
year. I challenge any county in the State to beat it. 

I have not sufficiently reliable data to approximate the amount 
which should be deducted for expenditures for dry goods, groceries, 
hardware, wagons, reapers, threshers, mowers, seeds, sewing machines, 



20 

fire and life insurance policies, and a thousmd other things, but after 
the most liberal estimates, the balance of trade must be largely in our 
favor — -the only true test of prosperity recognized by Political Econo- 
my. Speed the day when a very large proportion of the articles on 
the debit side of the account shall be manufactured in our midst. 

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
The first Agricultural Society was organized in 1857, and the 
Fair Grounds located near Shelbyville. I extracted from the record 
preserved, its first officers : 

''President, 

Hon. HUGH L. DAVIDSON, 

Vice-President, 

R. H. SIMS, W. W. GILL. 

G. G. OSBORN, HENRY DEAN. 

THOMAS LIPSCOMB. 

Treasurer, 
LEWIS TILLMAN. 

Recording Secretaty, 
J. F. CUMMINGS. 

Corresponding- Secretary, 
JOHN R. EAKIN. 
Directo7'S, 
JOHN H. O'NEAL. JAS. M. JOHNSON. ED. COOPER, 
JOHN A. MOORP:, JAMES MULLINS, J. C. FITE, 

T. C. RYALL, N. THOMPSON, Sr.. R. DENNISTON. 

G. P. BASKETTE, L. B. KNOTT, J. F. NEIL." , 

I have not at hand the names of the various officers and directors 
since, but suffice it to say, since the war, this association re-organized 
as a joint stock company, has flourished and has had for its efficient 
Presidents successively, William Little, Thomas H. Coldwell. W. W. 
Gill, Dr. Thomas Lipscomb and Robert P. Frierson. 

Its present officers and directors, as copied from the catalogue are 
as follows • 

"President — R- P. Frierson. 
Vice -Presidents — B. G. Fields, T. W. Buchanan, Lsaiah Parker. 
Secretary — E. Shapard. 

Directors — R. P. Frierson, B. G. Fields, X . W. Buchanan, Isaiah 
Parker, W. H. Christopher, Wm. A. Allen, Martin Eulis, T. H. Cold- 
well, Wm. C. Little, J. K. Hope, P. C. Steele, Jr., A. L. Landis. George- 
Smith. 

CHRISTIANITY. 
We have every reason to believe, yes, to know, that our fathers 
brought with them to their new homes the Holy Bible, and that num- 
bers of them erected the family altar in their humble cabins, even be- 
fore they had a shepherd to lead the little flock. At an early day 
Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians and Cumberland Presbyterians, 
were astir, carrying their respective banners in a common warfare 



21 

against a common enemy. 

One of the means early adopted by Methodists and Presbyterians 
to reach the unconverted and spread the Gospel, was camp-meetings. 
The Methodists held camp meetings once a year at Salem, Steele's, 
Horse Mountain, Knight's and Holt's ; the Presbyterians at Bethsalem, 
and the Cumberland Presbyterians at Three Forks, Beech Grove and 
Hastings'. These meetings were held in the months of July, August 
and September. The members of these respective churches, and some- 
times friends not members of any church, having erected their cabins 
or camps, would move in and ocupy for days, sometimes weeks, well 
prepared, as was their custom, to entertain largely and generously. 
During all this time religious services were kept up. Time will not 
allow fuller details ; suffice it that much good was done. There is 
nothing good that is not abused. Camp-meetings were no exception, 
and yet the good greatly overbalanced the evil. Doubtless many 
Christians in heaven, and many on earth, date their convictions and 
conversion at camp meetings They are now mostly given up. Holt's 
being the only one I believe still sustained by our Methodist friends. 

Amongst the early preachers of the Methodist denomination I 
may mention Learner Blackman and Joseph Smith, who removed to 
Franklin, and Joshua Butcher. Those who knew them bear testimony 
to their zeal and ability as preachers. 

John Brooks — "Johnny" Brooks as he was often called — was grave, 
calm, solemn, and faithful to the end of a long and useful life— he 
has received the reward of the just. The itinerancy system of the 
Methodists has, during all past time, brought within our midst, tem- 
porarily, many faithful, devoted and able ministers. I trust it will not 
be invidious to mention two young brothers in this church who en- 
tered the ministry within a few years of each other, only less devoted 
to each other than to their common Master, indeed so much so, that 
they expressed a desire, as we are informed, to be buried side by side. 
Men of a high order of talent — both becoming Presiding Ellders of 
the Murfreesboro District, both true ana faithful to the end. The elder 
of the two died on the 7th of May, 1863, having just entered his 54th 
year, the latter October 29th, 1870, in his 55th year, both interred in 
the old cemetery of Shelbyville ; and thus, side by side, rest all that is 
mortal of Samuel S. Moody and Adam S. Riggs. Par uobilc fratruin ! 

Amongst the early Baptist preachers of Bedford county, as in- 
formed by two venerable sisters in said church, Mrs. Rachael Tillman, 
88, and Mrs. Harriet Ferguson, 74, mother and mother-in-lkw of Col. 
Tillman, I mention Ruben Kelly, first Pa.stor of New Hope Church, 
organized in 1809, that cotemporary with him came William and John 
Keele, Jeremiah Burns, James Walker, John Landrum, George Till- 
man and Melchisedek Brame. 

A little later came Willis Hopwood, Levi C.and Issichar Roberts, 
Richard Cunningham and Joshua Yates. 

Levi C. Roberts finally was sent a Missionary to the Republic of 
Liberia, and subsequently became President of that Republic ; whilst 
Issicha Roberts went as Missionary to China. They were very earn- 
est preachers, most fully convinced that theirs was the true Gospel, 



22 

labored to the end of long lives very faithfully and zealously to spread 
the Gospel, and left behind them the fruits of their work in many of 
our Baptist co-workers of the day. 

Rev. George Newton, already mentioned, was, I believe, the first 
Presbyterian preacher ever located in the county. He came to the 
county probably in 18^3 or 18^4, was a man of learning; indeed, 
some thought too much so for the times ; very grave and serious in 
manner, not eloquent, but profound and doctrinal as a preacher, re- 
spected by all — a man without guile. He built up the Presbyterian 
church at Bethsalem — now Wartrace — where he was also, as before 
stated, a successful Educator; also built up the Presbyterian church 
in Shelbyville and the small church on Sugar Creek. He removed 
to Shelbyville about 18 — , became pastor of the church he had found- 
ed, thence until his death in 1840, and was buried in the old cemetery. 
He lived a long life of usefulness and piety. He left his impress upon 
the community. Our young men George Newton P^akin, George 
Newton Tillman and Cyrus Newton Allen were named for him. 

Almost contemporaneous with him came Rey. Thomas Hall, 
from the State of North Carolina. He settled in the then Bedford, 
now Marshall county, near Farmington, and built up the Roch Creek 
church in that neighborhood at an early day. He was a man very 
similar in traits of character and in a Godly life, to his co-worker 
George Newton. 

The pioneer of Cumberland Presbyterianism in this county was 
Rev. Samuel King. Tall and commanding in person, with a voice ot 
great compass, when he ascended the pulpit at a camp meeting, his 
voice would reach the outskirts, commanding the attention of all by 
his powerful denunciations of sin, his warnings to sinners, and appeals 
to them to flee from the wrath to come. His ministry was successful. 
He built up the Three P^orks church, near which he resided, and 
contributed to build up the Hastings' and Beech Grove churches. 

A little later came his co-worker, Daniel Patton, a man of a high 
order of talent and quite a revivalist. They both removed to Missouri, 
perhaps as early as 1828-9. 

The Lutherans, as the name indicates, in memory and honor of 
the great Reformer, Martin Luther, have a large church membership 
on Thompson's Creek, and have had ever since their organization as a 
church in this county for their pastor or preacher in charge. Rev. Wil- 
liam Jenl^ins, who has served them with marked zeal and ability, and 
with all, is a christian of very liberal views, readily fraternizing with 
other Protestant denominations. His church on Thompson's Creek 
was organized in 1824 by him. Mr. Jenkins is also pastor of Cedar 
Hill church, in the Shoffne'r neighborhood, also organized by him. 
He has also nearly all of this time been the pastor of a church near 
Crowell's Mills, on Duck River, where he preached more than fifty 
years ago. 

At a later day, .say between 1845 and 1850, the Christians, or be- 
lievers in the Bible as expounded by the distinguished Alexander 
Campbell, of Bethany, Virginia, spread rapidly in this county, and 



23 

now constitute a large and respectable portion of our Christian popu- 
lation. 

In 1859-60, mainly through the persevering efforts of Mrs. Ed- 
mund Cooper, deceased, the daughter of an Episcopal Minister, a very 
neat and comfortable Episcopal church edifice was erected here, and 
of which quite a number of our most respectable citizens are members. 
One of the first, if not the first, sermon preached in it was by the late 
Bishop Polk, and in it was General Braxton Bragg confirmed in 1863. 

The present pastors and preachers in charge of the several 
churches in Shelbyville, are: Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 
Rev. H. S. McBride ; Methodist Episcopal Church, Rev. A. Wells ; 
Presbyterian Church, Rev. J. F. Hill ; Cumberland Presbyterian 
Church, Rev. Dr. Atkinson ; Baptist Church, Rev. J. H. Thompson ; 
Episcopal Church. Rev. Mr. Holmes. The Christian denomination 
having no church building in town have preaching in the County 
Court room by Dr. D. C. Vaughn. 

DUCK RIVER BIBLE SOCIETY. 

The Duck River Bible Society, auxiliary to the American Bible 
Society, was organized on the i6th of May, 18 18. I extract from its 
minutes ; 

''State of Tennessee, Bedfoid County, ShelhyviUe, May 16, 1818. — 
Agreeable to previous notice the members of the Duck River Auxil- 
iary Bible Societ)' met at the court house for the purpose of forming 
a constitution, appointing officers for the regulation of the same. 

"Before entering on the business of the day, a sermon was de- 
livered by Rev. George Newton, and an address by Rev. Samuel King, 
both suitable to the occasion. After which the following officers were 
elected : Rev. George Newton, President ; Rev. Samuel King, Vice- 
President ; Mr, Levi C. Roberts, Secretary, who together with the fol- 
lowing gentlemen shall form the Board of Directors, viz : Messrs. 
Samuel Turrentine, John G. Sims. Vincent Smith, Samuel Tilford. 
James Patton, William Knott, Joseph Steele, Witherd Latimer and 
John Burns." 

The present officers of the Society are: Rev. J. F. Hill, President : 
Rev. H. S. McBride, Rev. Dr. Atkinson and Rev. J. H. Thompson. 
Vice-Presidents ; Oliver Cowan, Treasurer, and E. Shapard, Secretary. 

The American Bible Society was organized in 18 16. The Duck 
River Auxiliary Society in 18 18, being one of the very first auxilaries 
formed, and it has, I believe, held its anniversary meetings regularl) 
ever since, in some one of the fraternizing churches in Shelbyville, tht 
last one having been held in the Methodist Church, South, in June last. 

Its leading object is to distribute the Holy Bible to the needy and 
destitute in Bedford county, and to contribute as far as its means ma) 
justify to the funds of the Parent Society, to which it has con- 
tributed in gifts more than three thousand dollars in excess of dona- 
tions from the Parent Society. 

I have no statistics showing the number of Bibles and Testaments 
distributed, but suffice it to say that, during its existence of 58 years. 
it has done a noble work in its holy mission. 



24 

SUNDAY SCHOOLS 
were organized in this county as early, I think, as 1827 or 1828. I 
believe the first here, the next not long after, at Bethsalem church. 
Now they are to be found in all the churches, (with some exceptions) 
in town and country. They have, and are accomplishing much in teach- 
ing youth to keep the Sabbath holy, to study the Bible, to understand 
and obey its teachings, and to bring them to Christ, 

TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES, 
in some form and under some peculiar modus operandi, have been at 
work nearly as long as our Sunday Schools. Their success has been 
varied. The contest with a giant evil, whose trophies are widowhood, 
orphanage, wailings, woe and the drunkard's grave, has been fearful. 

One word more as germain to the moral and religious aspect of 
the county. The Christian people of Shelbyville, very recently, in a 
public meeting, all denominations uniting, adopted resolutions warm- 
h' approving the action of the Philadelphia Centennial Commissioners 
in refusing to open the gates of the P^xhibition to the public on the 
Sabbath, and as strongly condemning an opposite movement by a por- 
tion of said Commissioners. We cannot too warmly endorse the 
bol(j stand of Hon. Thomas PI. Coldwell, Commissioner for Tennes- 
see, in opposing in the Board of Commissioners the movement to 
desecrate the Christian Sabbath by public Exhibitions on the Lord's 
day. 

POLITICS 
will be touched lightly. During the admini-strafion of Madison and 
Monroe from March, 1809, to March, 1825, there w;-s but little divis- 
ion of parties here- In the struggle between John Q. Adams and 
General Jackson, party spirit ran high — the followers of the latter 
being largely predominant. Indeed, it has been said there were only 
about seventy-five Adams men in the country. During ail this time, 
up to about 1832, or perhaps later, the party nomenclature was Re- 
publican and Federalist. 

The names, Democrat and Whig, were not assumed before 1832. 
Not until 1836 was there anything like formidable opposition to the 
Jackson or Democratic party here. It culminated in the contest be- 
tween Martin Van Buren and Hugh L. White — the State going for 
White in opposition to the efforts of General Jackson. Bedford took 
an active part in that contest. The county voted for the Democratic 
candidate. The Democrats and Whigs were much divided from thence 
— sometimes the one party and then the other carrying the county in 
elections, but most frequently the Whigs. 

When the war came there was still much division. Man>- 
citizens, especially young men, attesting the sincerity of their convic- 
tions by taking up arms, and numbers of them sealing their devotion 
to the cau.se of their espou.sal with their life's blood. Though Bed- 
ford was the theatre of no pitched battles, yet it was of several sharp 
cavalry skirmishes. Shelbyville being on the line of the march of 
armies, often witnessed the movements and counter movements ol 
large bodies, like the ebb and flow of the tidal waves, and whilst there 



25 

was considerable loss of property, and instances of personal injury 
and oppression from both sides, yet through the influence of promi- 
nent citizens on both sides, these consequences were no more serious 
than could have been expected in a state of war. 

The remains of the slain in battle, as well as of those dying of 
disease, as far as could be done, were gathered and buried in public 
cemetaries, but some of both sides sleep in unknown graves. 

Nothing more creditable to our weak human nature, than to wit- 
ness "the Blue and the Gray," shed the tear of sympathy, and scatter 
the flowers of affection over the graves of all alike. Rcquiescaiit in 
pare! 
COURT HOUSES, JUDICIAL .\nd MINISTERIAL OFFICERS. 

We are celebrating this day in the fourth Court house built in 
Shelbyville, the first shortly after the organization of the county built 
on the north-west corner of the Square ; the other three where we 
now are. The first was a small wooden tenement. In a few years a 
brick building better adapted to the growing needs of the county, 
which was blown down by the tornado of 1830. In its stead was 
early erected a more capacious brick which answered our purposes 
very well until destroyed by fire in 1863. Upon the re-opening of 
the courts after the war, they were held in such places of convenience 
as could be obtained, until the present bulling, commenced in 1869, 
was completed in 1873. 

It is the most elegant, attractive and co.stly Court house in the 
State, costing the county of Bedford ^80,000 or $90,000. The first 
court ever held for the original Bedford county was at the house of 
Mrs. Payne, near the head of Mulberry creek in now Lincoln county, 
and there were the county offices, for there was issued by Thomas 
Moore, the first County Court Clerk, the marriage license between 
John Tillman and Rachael Martin. 

After Bedford was reduced in 1809, the courts were held at Amos 
Balch's, the Little place as heretofore stated, until the county seat was 
fixed here. We had what was then known as the Court of Pleas and 
Quarter Sessions held by three Justices of the Peace, exercising a lim- 
ited jurisdiction with Jury trials. Also, Circuit Courts, with common 
law and equity jurisdiction. The records of the courts were nearly 
all destroyed in the burning of the court house in 1863, whereby the 
proceedings of the courts cannot be certainly known. This loss came 
down to about 1850. 

There was however one entry on the county court minutes as 
early as 18 10 or 18 12 so unique, and so well remembered as to be 
correctly quoted. It ran thus : " This day Thomas H. Benton, Felix 
Grunday and Oliver B. Hays appeared and took the oath of practicing 
attorneys of this court, and thereupon Howell Dawdy took the chair 
accordingly." Now, the first chairman of the county court was John 
Atkinson, but Howell Dawdy being a Justice of the Peace, was prob- 
ably one of the associate Justices. I think the proper interpretation 
of the entry is, that the Chairman and another Justice were on the 



26 

Bench when the oath was administered to the attorneys, and just then 
Msquire Dawdy appeared and took the 'chair accordingly," vacant for 
him. To the young lawyer, ambitious of success and eminence in his 
noble profession, let me say, do not hesitate to make yourself heard in 
the Inferior courts, for you have had practicing in the county court of 
Bedford, Thomas H. Benton, the great Thunderer in the American 
Senate for thirty years ; Felix Grundy who ranked every other lawyer 
in the defense of criminals in the courts of Tennessee, and who 
was a distinguished Senator in Congress for two terms, and Oliver B. 
Hays the ornate and accomplished lawyer. 

[The following letter from Hon. G. W. Jones — long the honored 
and able member of Congress from the Fifth District — was received 
after this address was delivered, as the date shows ; but is, at once, so 
thoughtful on the part of the man viinus the ear, and so characteristic 
of the times, as to deserve insertion.] 

Fayetteville, Tennessee, July 17, 1876. 

Hon. H. L. Davidson : — Dear Sir — I was at the house of Colonel 
Thomas H, Benton, in Washington City, one evening after supper, 
when he related the following occurrence. He said he was in attend- 
ance at a court being held at Mulberry old court house on the head of 
Mulberry creek, then Bedford county, late one evening during the 
term of the court, a fight, between two men occurred in the court 
yard, fist and skull, of course, (no revolvers in those days) — one of the 
combatants bit off a portion of his antagonist's ear. On the meeting 
of the court next morning, the man minus an ear appeared in court, 
and moved the court to have entered of record the fact that his ear 
was bitten off in a fight, as it was common in those early days to crop 
or cut off the ear or ears as the penalty for stealing. The court 
ordered the entry to be made of record as moved by the man. Thus 
far all was right. The man for whose benefit the entry was made, 
asked the clerk the amount of his fee. The clerk after looking all 
through his Statutes and fee bills, said he could find no fee prescribed 
for that specific service, but, that there was a fee of twelve and one- 
half cents allowed the clerk for recording the ear mark of a person's 
stock and he supposed that that won'd be about right, which was as- 
sented to by the man, who paid the fee cheerfully and departed in 
])eace, confident that he was fully protected in the future against the 
charge that he had been cropped for stealing. 

Yours truly, G. W. Jones. 

The first Judge of the Circuit court was Hon. Thomas Stewart, 
of Williamson county, Bedford being in the same circuit with Wil- 
hamson and other counties. He held the first Circuit court before 
ixiclford was reduced by the formation of Lincoln at the house of Mrs. 
Payne, f.n the head of' Mulberry ; after this, and before the seat of 
Justice was located at Amos Balch's, afterwards in Shelbyville until 
hi-; retirement from the Bench at which precise date I am not well in- 
formed. He was succeeded by Hon. James C. Mitchell, of Ruther- 
ford, who held the ])Msiti<)n until about 1.S35, and who was succeeded 



27 

h}' Hon. Saiiuiel Anderson, who held the office until March, 1852. 
Upon his voluntary retirement, I was elected to fill the office b\' thr 
Legislature, (as my predecessors had been) and held under the Go\-- 
ernor's commission until the Constitution was changed, making thr 
judiciary elective by the people, and was elected in May, 1854, for the 
constitutional tei-m of eight years. Pardon me for stating that I was 
the first citizen of Bedford county from its formation so honored ; and 
this, not because of any superior claim or merit — for my superiors in 
legal qualifications were then members of the Shelbyville bar — but 
because at the close of the long incumbency of the officeby Judge An- 
derson, none of my Shelbyville brothers opposed me. In March, 
1862, I resigned, and was succeeded by Hon. Henry Cooper, under 
appointment of Andrew Johnson, military Governor of Tennessee. 
Judge Cooper held the office until the summer of 1868, and resigned, 
after which an election by the people was ordered by proclamation of 
Governor Brownlow in August, 1868, when Hon. J. W. Phillips, of 
Wilson (that county having long before constituted a part of this, the 
Seventh judicial circuit) was elected. He held the office until Judicial 
and Ministerial offices became vacant by the adoption of the Constitu- 
tion of 1870, and at a general election held under it in August, 1870, 
the present incumbent, Hon. W. H. Williamson, of Wilson, was elected. 

After the adoption of our present Chancery court system, Hon, 
B. L. Ridley, then of Warren county; was elected Chancellor of this, 
the F'ourth Chancery Division twice by the Legislature, and twice b\ 
the people. The office being regarded as vacant in 1865, at that date. 
Governor Brownlow commissioned Hon. Thomas H. Coldwell, who 
shortly afterwards declining to serve, the Governor appointed Hon. 
Jno. P. Steele, of Bedford, Chancellor, who filled the office until the Au- 
gust election, 1870, when Hon. A. S. Marks, of Franklin, the present 
incumbent, was elected. 

The first Attorney General was Alfred Balch, of Bedford, elected 
probably soon after the organization of the county. He was succeed- 
ed by William B. Martin, of Bedford, he by Thomas H. Fletcher, then 
of Franklin, he by James Fulton, of Lincoln, he by Abram Martin, of 
Bedford, he by E. J. Frierson, of Bedford, who held the office until the 
Constitution of 1 834 was adopted. I remark that before this latter 
date the judicial Circuits and solicitorial Districts were not necessarily 
the same, as since that date. The first Attorney General after the 
adoption of the Constitution of 1 834, was Thomas C. Whiteside, of 
Bedford — the Nestor of the Shelbyville bar, who held the constitution- 
al term of six years, and was succeeded by myself — same term. Then 
William L. Martin, of Wilson, who at the end of four years resigned, 
when James L. Scudder was appointed by the Governor, until the first 
election under the amended constitution of 1853-4, making these as 
well as Judges, elective by the people, all of such officers before the- 
latter date having been elected by the Legislature in joint convention. 
In May, 1854, Colonel Scudder was elected by the people, and was 
succeeded in i860 by B. M. Tillman, since Chancellor in the Thir- 
teenth Chancery Division. He held the office until appointed Chain- 



28 I 

cellor by Gov^ernor Brownlow, and was succeeded by James M. Brien 
under executive appointment, whose death soon occurring, he was 
succeeded in like manner by William H. Wisener, Jr., who held the 
office until the election ordered by the Governor in 1868, when James 
F. Stokes, of Wilson, was elected, who held until the August election, 
1870, when M. W^ McKnight, of Cannon, the present incumbent, was 
elected. 

CHAIRMEN OF THE COUNTY COURT. 

Under the old system of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, we are 
informed there was no great regularity as to who should preside as 
Chairman, although, in fact, John Atkinson was first chairman. Fre- 
quently, it is said, Joseph Hastings, Esquire, presided. Under the act 
of 1835, there has been annually, a Chairman elected at the January 
term unless in case of vacancy when it was done at another Quarterly 
term. Under this system J. W. Hamlin, Esq., was presiding Chairman 
some portion of the time — so likewise were H. F. Holt, and P. C. 
Steele, Esquire, elected chairmen for some portion of the time, but 
because of the burning of the court house with the loss of the records 
these facts cannot be fully shown, but enough is known to show that 
William Galbraith, Esquire, was successively elected Chairman from 
1856 to 1870. About 1852, John T. Neil was elected County Judge 
under an act of the Legislature, but the law being repealed at 
the next session, Judge Neil went out of office. 

R. L. Landers, Esquire, succeeded William Galbraith in Septem- 
ber, 1870, and held until October, 1870, when he resigned. He was 
succeeded by John P. Hutton, P^squire, October 14th, 1 870, who con- 
tinued until January ist, 1872, when Thomas J. Ogilvie, Esquire, was 
elected, and held the office until January ist, 1873, when Richard 
Henry Stem, Esquire, was elected, and is the present incumbent under 
annual elections ever since, and with enlarged jurisdiction and powers 
under late laws, making the office of Chairman still more important. 

The first Circuit Court Clerk was Daniel McKissick, who held the 
office until the adoption of the new Constitution of 1834, when John 
T. Neil was elected, and successively elected by the people until 1852, 
when he was succeeded by Colonel Lewis Tillman, who held it two 
terms, and was succeeded by James H. Neil, in i860, who held it until 
1868, and was succeeded by Captain J. M. Phillips, who held until the 
August election, 1870, when the present incumbent, Captain W. B. M. 
Brame, was elected. 

The first Chancery Court Clerk and Master was Robert P. Harri- 
son, appointed by Chancellor Ridley — the right to appoint their own 
Clerks and Masters being conferred on the Chancellors by the Consti- 
tution. Upon the death of Captain Harrison in 1843, Robert B. 
Davidson was specially commissioned and held the office until Major 
W. J. Whitthorne was appointed, who, shortly after Judge Steele be- 
came Chancellor resigned, when Colonel Lewis Tillman was appointed 
and held the office until 1868, when he resigned, and his son, Lewis 
Tillman, Jr., was appointed, and held the office until after the election 



29 

of Chancellor Marks, who appointed V. S. Steele, the present incum- 
bent. 

The first County Court Clerk was Thomas Moore, he was suc- 
ceeded by James McKissick, he by William D. Orr, he by Robert 
Hurst, he by A. Vannoy. he by J. H. Oneal, he by Joseph H. Thomp- 
son, he by R. C. Couch and he by Robert L. Singleton, the present 
incumbent. 

The first Sheriff was Benjamin Bradford ; 2d — John Warner; 3d 
—John Wortham ; 4th — John Warner, again ; 5th — William Norville ; 
6th— I believe, K. L. Anderson ; 7th— D. D. Arnold ; 8th— James 
Mullins ; 9th — J. M.Johnson ; loth — James Wortham ; i ith — Garrett 
Phillips; I2th — R. B. Blackwell ; 13th — Joseph Thompson; 14th — 
J. N. Dunaway; 15th— F. F. Fonville, and i6th J. J. Phillips, the 
present incumbent. 

The first Register was John Ake, appointed as early as 1809, and 
the first deed for land registered by him was from Andrew Jackson to 
Michael Gleaves ; 2d-Thos. Davis ; 3d-A. Vannoy ; 4th-D. B.Shriver ; 
5th — M. E. W. Dunaway; 6th — John W. Thompson, and 7th, H. H. 
Holt, the present incumbent. 

JOURNALISM. 

The first newspaper published in Shelbyville, according to in- 
formation was T/u' Herald, Theo. F. Bradford, editor and proprietor. 
This paper was probably sold out in 182 1 to one Iredell. How long 
he published it we cannot learn, but in 1830, at the time of the storm, 
he and J. Newton were publishing a paper here. The next in order 
was the Western Freeman, established in 1832, edited by H. M. Water- 
son, and published by John H. Laird. This was an anti-masonic 
paper. 

The next. The People s Advoeate, in 1836, William H. Wi.sener, 
editor and proprietor. This was the first Whig paper in the county 
and advocated Hugh L. White for President About the same time 
Granville Cook published the Western Star; he was editor and pro- 
prietor, a Democratic paper in the support of Martin Van Buren. In 
1838, L. W. Marbury published the People's Advocate. About 1840, 
the People s Advocate was succeeded by the Westetn Advocate, John 
W. White, editor and proprietor, a Whig paper The Free Press, by 
I. C. Brassfield, a Democratic paper, in 1844. The Whig Advocate, 
published by John H. Laird, editor and proprietor, in 1844. In 1848, 
The Star, a Democratic paper, by R. C Russ, editor and proprietor. 

From 1848 to 1862, The Expositor, by James Russ, Jr., and Rolph 
S. Saunders; the latter editor, but whose connection soon 
terminated, and the former, publisher. This was a Whig paper. 
From 1850 to 1855, Bedford Yeoman, Democratic, by R. C. Russ. In 
1855. The Democrat, published and edited by J. G. Carrigan, J. Mc- 
Danniel and N. O. Blake. In 1857-8, The Constitutionalist, a Demo- 
cratic paper, edited by J. H. Baskett. The Herald of Truth, a Baptist 
religious paper, edited and published by Dr. R. W. Fain. From 1862 to 
1863, The Tri- Weekly .Vews, a Union paper, J. H. Thompson, editor; 
T. B. Laird, publisher. 



Then The Amencan Cbiion, in 1863, until 1866 or 1867, T. K. 
Laird, publisher; J. H. Thompson, editor. In 1865, the Republican, 
lames Russ, jr., pubhsher ; Lewis Tillman, editor. The Bulletin, in 1871. 
a Conservarive paper, by J. L. and J. B. Russ, publishers and pro- 
prietors. The Commercial, in 1869, J. L. and L. H. Russ, publish- 
ers ; a Conservative paper. This paper was purchased by T. S Steele 
and S. A. Cunningham in November, 1870. In January, 1871, Mr. 
Cunningham became sole editor and proprietor. Two years afterward 
the Rescue was merged into it, and in July following R. C. Russ be- 
came the publisher. This paper is now, and has been for several 
years, edited and published by R C. Russ, and is entitled. The Shelby- 
ville Commercial, — Democratic. The Gazette, started in 1874, pub- 
lished by J. L. Russ, Captain B. P. Steele, political editor, C. J. 
Moody, Esquire, local editor — Democratic. 

I think it not inappropriate to give the names of old settlers be- 
tween the date of the organization of the county, and the end of the 
first decade, thereafter according to my best information, and whose 
posterity now constitute a large portion of our present population, to- 
wit : Cannon, Davis, Deery, Eakin, Armstrong, Stone, Coldwell, Bur- 
dett, Galbreath, Wade, Whitney, McKissack, Ruth, Holland, Marshall. 
Nelson, Moore, Arnold, Shriver, Bomar, Mullins, Norville, Shofner. 
King, Young, Kimbro, Hoozier, Ewell, Hall, Hord, Erwin, Davidson. 
Smith, Vance, Stokes, Osborne, Finch, Scruggs, Scott, Couch, Martin. 
Moseley, Neil, Tillman, Thomas, Peacock, Wood, Muse, Fugett. 
Hoover, Sutton, Murfrey, Steele, Harris, Wilson, Cooper, Tune, Mor- 
'"ton, McCuistian, Clardy, Green, Brown, Fisher, Thompson, Parsons, 
Turrentine, Tilford. Allison, Lents, Blanton, Wortham, Warner, Atkin- 
son, Anderson, Sharon, Stallings, Sims, Brame, O'Neal, Coffey, Gaunt, 
Stephenson, Dryden, Harrison, Greer, Barrett, White, Gambill, Holt, 
Dean, Campbell, Williams, Floyd, Pearson, Bobo, Burrow, Reid, 
Reeves, Morgan, Parker, McGill, Ray, Hastings, Dunaway, Dickson, 
Landers, Landis, Anthony, P^wliss, Maupin, etc. Of these the Steeles 
are lineal descendants of Zacheus Wilson, and the Harrises, of James 
Harris, both signers of the Mecklenburgh Declaration of Independ- 
dence, at Charlotte, North Carolina, May 20, 1775. And my own 
family are blood relations of General William Davidson, another oi 
the Mecklenburgh signers, and for whom Davidson, the metropolitan 
county of Tennessee was named. Also, the family of Major C. P. 
Houston, are lineal descendants of John Phifer, another one of the 
signers of the Mecklenburgh Declaration of Independence. 

This address, it is hoped in fitness to the occasion, has been chiefly 
confined to Bedford county, with incidents, and anecdotes, illustrative 
of its history ; yet, I trust it will not be deemed inappropriate to con- 
clude it with a few brief reflections and sentiments in regard to our 
whole country. To-day she is one hundred years old ; just entering, 
with all her hopes, expectations, duties and responsibilities upon the 
second Centennial of her national life. From her original thirteen 
colonies she has expanded into thirty-eight co-equal States, with other 
vast Territory, not, as yet, of sufficient population to be admitted as 



31 

States. A country of great extent, of wonderful progress, under a 
gov'ernment of the people, whose voice, legally and constitutionally 
expressed, is the Supreme law, Whilst there are those in this country 
who deny that all power rightfully emanates from the people, and hold 
that Republican Government is a failure, yet I believe the time has 
Slot come, and pray that it never.will come, when our institutions shall 
he overthrown, and, in their stead, shall be erected a government mon- 
archical in principle. 

We have a great and glorious heritage, extending from ocean to 
ocean, and from perpetual snow and ice in the North, to ever-bloom- 
ing flowers in the South ; with every variety of soil and climate, capa- 
ble of sustaining upon its fruitful bosom the teeming millions of man 
kind. If, within one century, commencing with a bankrupt treasury, 
at the close of a long and exhaustive war for Independence, we have 
opened up the forests, given the virgin soil to cultivation, built cities, 
expanded commerce, by rail and by water navigation, built and manned 
navies, marshaled armies, conducted successful wars, erected Schools, 
Colleges, Churches, and spread the Gospel of the living God, what 
may not a people so energetic, so inventive and so enterprising, achieve 
in the next century ? What has American genius, talent and energy 
already accomplished ? Look at the array of Statesmen, of Divines, of 
Jurists, of Journalists, of Artists, of Scientists. To institute compari- 
sons might be invidious. In one of the fine arts, who surpasses in 
Sculpture, Powers, whose eye discovered, and whose hand uncovered 
the perfection, as it were, of living, breathing Statuary ? Whitney, 
the inventor of the cotton-gin, wherewith he crowned cotton King for 
half a century? Fulton, whose mechanical genius first applied steam 
to navigation, on the waters of the Hudson, in 1807, with the first 
steamboat built in America ? Morse, whose scientific grasp chained 
the lightning, rendering the electric fluid subservient to the interests, 
business, commerce and pleasures of mankind; and our own adopted 
Lieutenant M. F. Maury, whose scientific research discovered the cur- 
rent of the winds of the 'seas and mapped them out so that the perils 
of the high seas have greatly diminished. With such results, what 
may not be accomplished in the second century ? 

Although we cannot boast, as the mother country, England, does, 
that the sun never sets upon her possessions, yet we can rejoice that 
our vast domain is adjacent and contiguous, separated by no seas, no 
oceans, bound together by natural bands. Let us, from all the glories 
of the past, as well as the hopes of the future, leading, as we trust, to 
the welfare and happiness of all, catch the inspiration, and cultivate the 
sentiment throughout our broad land of fraternity and concord, each 
giving such a hearty support to just con.stitutions, wholesome laws, 
wise and God fearing administrators thereof, that all the people in all 
our borders, v.ith one acclaim, may pronounce the benediction on our 
common country. Be thou Perpetual. 



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